Enterprise Analysis

BABOK v2 Knowledge Areas

Copyright © 2009 Patrick van Abbema
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Introduction
• Definition
– Knowledge Area which describes Business Analysis activities that take place for
organizations to:
• Identify business opportunities
• Build their Business Architecture framework
• Determine the optimum project investment path for the enterprise –
includes implementation of new business and technical system solutions
• When does it occur
– Occurs pre‐project
• Captures future view of the business
• Gives context to future requirements elicitation and solution design for an
initiative
• Sometimes referred to as a feasibility analysis phase, sometimes treated as
stand‐alone project
• What occurs
– Business Requirements for future project investments are identified and
documented
• Business requirements defined at a high‐level – goals, objectives, and needs
are identified
• Investigative activities to determine why a project is being requested and
the metrics to determine project success


Introduction
• Managing projects has two dimensions
– Investing in the most valuable projects
– Planning, executing, and controlling project activities to attain business value as
early as possible
• Enterprise Analysis activities
– Begin after the executive team develops strategic plans and goals
– Continue until information is gathered to propose new or supporting projects for
a go/no go decision
– End after the benefits of project outcomes are measured and analyzed
• Enterprise Activity examples linked to Business Planning events:
– Strategic plan development
– Strategic goal development
– Business Architecture development
– Feasibility Studies
– Business Case Development
– New Project Proposal
– Selecting and Prioritizing New Business Opportunities
– Launching New Projects
– Managing Projects for Value
– Tracking Project Benefits


Strategic Planning and Goal Setting

Strategic Planning
• Focuses executive team on the organization’s reason for being and provides the
foundation to prioritize programs and projects.
• Provides context in which Enterprise Architecture is conducted.
• Plan is considered living, breathing document
• Various business needs are considered during this planning:
– Investigating current strategy related to environment and market trends
– Assessing current technology structure to ensure alignment with business vision
– Identifying ongoing business issues
– Remaining competitive, profitable, and efficient

Strategic Goal Setting
• Goals usually developed during the Strategic planning
• Usually strategic goals are effective when translated into Strategic themes
• Strategic themes define new business opportunities (e.g. reduce costs through on‐line
ordering, increase revenue per customer by increasing services provided per
customer).


Enterprise Analysis Activities
BA Strategic Role
• BA doesn’t usually participate directly in strategic planning in small organizations.
• Sr. BAs will sometimes perform analysis and benchmark studies to provide
information to the strategic planning team.
• Through Enterprise Analysis activities, BA play a role in translating business strategies
and themes into proposed business solutions.
BA Enterprise Analysis Role
• BA plays critical role working with key stakeholders and SMEs to provide management
with information they need to wisely prioritize their projects.
• Focus is on the Enterprise level and considerations are across the organization.
Enterprise Analysis Activities
• Enterprise Analysis Activities leading up to Project Selection:
– Creating and maintaining the Business Architecture
– Conducting Feasibility Studies to find optimal business solution
– Scoping and defining the new business opportunity
– Preparing the Business Case
– Conducting the initial Risk Assessment
– Preparing the Decision Package


Creating and Maintaining a
Business Architecture
• Purpose of Business Architecture:
– Provide a unified structure and context that guides selection and management of
programs and projects – provides common framework that fosters strategic
alignment
– Set of documentation defines an organization’s current and future capabilities
– Describes business strategy and long term goals, environment (technical and
environmental)
– Defines stakeholders
– Considered strategic asset
• Business Architecture consists of:
– Interrelated set of documents, model and diagrams, organized to present
information about the business in terms of Business vision, mission, strategy,
functions, rules, policies, procedures, processes, organizations, competencies,
and locations
– Goal – to achieve a common understanding of the changes business must make
to achieve their goals
– Shows how the business and technical information interrelate with each other
– One element within the larger view which is the Enterprise Architecture
• Enterprise Architecture comprised of five Architectures:
– Business Architecture
– Information Architecture
– Application Architecture
– Technology Architecture
– Security Architecture


Defining the business need
• Why? – Identify and define why an organizational change is required
• Description
– The business need defines the problem that the business analyst is trying to find
a solution for. The way the business need is defined determines which alternative
solutions will be considered, which stakeholders will be consulted, and which
solution approaches will be evaluated.
• Input
– Business Goals and Objectives: Business goals and objectives describe the ends
that the organization is seeking to achieve. A common test for assessing
objectives is to ensure that they are SMART:
• Specific – describing something that has an observable outcome
• Measurable – tracking and measuring the outcome
• Achievable – testing the feasibility of the effort
• Relevant – in alignment with the organization’s key vision, mission, goals
• Time‐bounded – the objective has a defined timeframe that is consistent with the
business need
• Output
– Business Need: A business need describes a problem that the organization is or is
likely to face, or an opportunity that it has not taken, and the desired outcome.
The business need will guide the identification and definition of possible
solutions.

Techniques Used to Define the
Business Need
• Techniques
– Benchmarking: Understanding what competing organizations and peers are doing
allows the organization to remain at a comparable level of service or identify
opportunities to increase efficiency.
– Brainstorming: Generate insights and options.
– Business Rules Analysis: Identify changes in the policies that guide the
organization towards achieving its goals and objectives.
– Focus Groups : To identify and discuss problems.
– Functional Decomposition: Convert business goals into achievable objectives and
measures.
– Root Cause Analysis: Determine the underlying source of a problem.

• Stakeholders
– Customer or Supplier, Domain SME or End User, Regulator, Sponsor


Assessing capability gaps

• Why? ‐ Identify new capabilities required by the enterprise to meet the business need
• Description:
– Assess the current capabilities of the enterprise and identify the gaps that
prevent it from meeting business needs and achieving desired outcomes.
Determine if it is possible for the organization to meet the business need using its
existing structure, people, processes, and technology. E.g., “know Rome”
• Input
– Business Need: Capabilities are assessed against the business need to identify
gaps.
– Enterprise Architecture: The enterprise architecture defines the current
capabilities of an organization.
– (Current) Solution Performance Assessment: Identifies shortcomings, problems
or limitations of an existing solution.
• Output
– Required Capabilities: An understanding of the current capabilities of the
organization and the new capabilities (processes, staff, features in an application,
etc.) that may be required to meet the business need.


Techniques used to assess
capability gaps
• Techniques
– Document Analysis: Useful to understand the current state of the enterprise, in
as much as that current state is documented.
– SWOT Analysis: Identify how current capabilities and limitations (Strengths and
Weaknesses) match up against the influencing factors (Opportunities and
Threats).
• Stakeholders
– Customer or Supplier, Domain SME, End User, Implementation SME, and Sponsor


Determining the solution approach

• Why? ‐ To determine the most viable solution approach to meet the business need in
enough detail to allow for definition of solution scope and prepare the business case.
• Description
– The solution approach describes the general approach that will be taken to
create or acquire the new capabilities required to meet the business need.
• Input
– Business Need: Possible solutions will be evaluated against the business need to
ensure that it can be met by the selected approach.
– Organizational Process Assets: The organization may require that specific
approaches be taken to solutions of a given type (such as specific
methodologies).
– Required Capabilities: Identifies the new capabilities that any solution must
support.
• Output
– Solution Approach: A description of the approach that will be taken to implement
a new set of capabilities.


Techniques used to determine the
Solution Approach
• Techniques
– Benchmarking: Identify solution approaches that have proven effective in other
organizations.
– Brainstorming: Used as a method of generating alternatives.
– Decision Analysis: Rank and select possible solution approaches.
– Estimation: Develop initial cost comparisons of possible solution approaches.
– SWOT Analysis: Useful method of comparing possible approaches.
– Feasibility Analysis: A preliminary analysis of solution alternatives or options to
determine whether and how each option can provide an expected business
benefit to meet the business need.
• Stakeholders
– Sponsor, Implementation SME, Customer, Domain SME, End User and Supplier


Defining the solution scope
• Why? ‐ To define which new capabilities a project or iteration will deliver.
• Description
– The purpose of this task is to conceptualize the recommended solution in enough
detail to enable stakeholders to understand which new business capabilities an
initiative will deliver.
• Input
– Assumptions and Constraints: Relevant assumptions and constraints may include
assumptions about how stakeholders will respond to a new product or service or
about the availability of technology.
– Business Need: The goals, objectives, and desired outcomes of the organization.
– Required Capabilities: Describes the new capabilities required to meet the
business need, which serve as the basis for the solution scope.
– Solution Approach: The general approach taken to delivery of the new
capabilities required by the business will be used when assessing options for the
implementation of solution components.
• Output
– Solution Scope: Defines what must be delivered in order to meet the business
need.

Techniques used to define the
solution scope
• Techniques
– Functional Decomposition: To understand the scope of work and to break the
solution scope into smaller work products or deliverables.
– Interface Analysis: Depict the scope of work required to integrate the new
solution into the business and technical environments.
– Scope Modeling: Identify appropriate boundaries for the solution scope.
– User Stories: Describe stakeholders and the goals the system supports and as
such can also be used to define the solution scope.
– Problem or vision statement: A problem or vision statement states the business
need, identifies key stakeholders, and briefly describes the positive impact that
meeting the business need will have on those stakeholders.
• Stakeholders
– Domain SME, Implementation SME, Project Manager, Sponsor


Define the Business Case
• Why? ‐ To determine if an organization can justify the investment required to deliver
a proposed solution.
• Description
– The business case describes the justification for the project in terms of the value
to be added to the business as a result of the deployed solution, as compared to
the cost to develop and operate the solution.
• Input
– Assumptions and Constraints: Include assumptions about the revenue generated
or retained by the solution or non‐financial improvements it will deliver.
– Business Need: Defines the value that a solution will deliver to the organization
and how it aligns with the business goals and objectives.
– Solution Scope: Defines the capabilities that will be implemented, the methods
that will be used to deliver them, and the areas of the organization that will be
affected.
– Stakeholder Concerns: May include risks or issues that must be accounted for in
the business case.
• Output
– Business Case: Presents the information necessary to support a go/no go
decision to invest and move forward with a proposed project.


Techniques used to define a
Business Case
• Techniques
– Decision Analysis: Cost‐benefit analysis compares the costs of implementing a
solution against the benefits to be gained. Financial analysis includes the use of
financial models that estimate the market value of an organizational asset.
– Estimation: Forecast the size of the investment required to deploy and operate
the proposed solution.
– Metrics and Key Performance Indicators: Assessed to support benefit
management, measurement and reporting, including where realignment of
internal measures or systems is needed to ensure that the behaviours we are
seeking can be seen, evaluated, and realized.
– Risk Analysis: Used to assess potential risks that may impact the solution and the
costs and benefits associated with it.
– SWOT Analysis: Demonstrate how the solution will help the organization
maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses.
– Vendor Assessment: If purchase or outsourcing to a third party is in
consideration, an assessment of the vendor may be performed as part of the
business case.
• Stakeholders
– Project Manager, Implementation SME, Domain SME, Sponsor

Questions?


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